--- title: "Cline 4.0 Migrates the VS Code Extension Onto the Shared Cline SDK, Adds ClinePass, a Customize Marketplace, Plugins, and Queued Prompts" description: "Cline shipped v4.0.0 on June 26, 2026 (github.com/cline/cline), a major version that migrates the VS Code extension from its legacy standalone task implementation onto the shared Cline SDK, the same TypeScript engine that runs the Cline CLI, Kanban, and JetBrains plugin. The release adds ClinePass (built-in onboarding, provider selection, subscription handoff, and entitlement handling), a Customize marketplace for Skills, MCP servers, and the new Cline Plugins, queued prompts, edit-and-regenerate, a provider and model configuration rework around providers.json and a shared model catalog (Fireworks GLM 5.2, Kimi K2.6 Fast, Kimi K2.7 Code, Qwen 3.7 Plus, MiniMax M3, SAP AI Core, LiteLLM, Codex OAuth), command auto-approval disabled by default, and an extension build and package workflow moved to Bun. Subagents are temporarily disabled in the extension while the SDK-backed experience stabilizes." date: 2026-06-27 image: "/images/heroes/2026-06-27--cline-4-0-sdk-rewrite-clinepass-customize-marketplace-plugins.png" author: lschvn tags: ["ai", "tooling"] tldr: - "Cline shipped [v4.0.0 on June 26, 2026](https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.0.0), a major version that migrates the VS Code extension off its legacy task implementation and onto the [shared Cline SDK](https://docs.cline.bot/cline-sdk/overview) (`@cline/sdk`), the same engine that runs the Cline CLI, Kanban, and JetBrains plugin. The jump from v3.89.2 to 4.0.0 is an architecture consolidation, not a routine feature drop: agent turns, tools, Plan/Act coordination, MCP, checkpoints, telemetry, provider changes, compaction, mistake limits, and task history all now run through the shared SDK session layer." - "Two product surfaces land on top of the SDK. [ClinePass](https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.0.0) is a built-in subscription and onboarding flow in the extension, covering provider selection, signup and subscription handoff, live model lists, entitlement and organization error states, and out-of-credit prompts. The Customize marketplace is a single place to discover and manage Skills, MCP servers, and the new Cline Plugins, which package custom tools, workflows, skills, and MCP-powered capabilities and can be installed mid-session." - "The developer-facing changes are concrete: queued prompts (messages submitted while Cline is working now queue instead of racing), edit-and-regenerate for previous user messages, a provider and model rework around `providers.json` and a shared model catalog (Fireworks GLM 5.2, Kimi K2.6 Fast, Kimi K2.7 Code, Qwen 3.7 Plus, MiniMax M3, SAP AI Core, LiteLLM, Codex OAuth, OpenAI-compatible), command auto-approval disabled by default for safer new and reset configurations, and an extension build and package workflow moved to Bun. Subagents are temporarily disabled in the extension while the SDK-backed experience stabilizes." faq: - question: "What is new in Cline 4.0?" answer: "Cline 4.0 (v4.0.0, released June 26, 2026) is a major version that migrates the VS Code extension onto the shared Cline SDK, the same engine that runs the CLI, Kanban, and JetBrains plugin. It adds ClinePass (a built-in subscription and onboarding flow), a Customize marketplace for Skills, MCP servers, and the new Cline Plugins, queued prompts in chat, edit-and-regenerate for previous messages, and a reworked provider and model configuration built around a providers.json file and a shared model catalog. Command auto-approval is now disabled by default, the extension build moved to Bun, and subagents are temporarily disabled while the SDK-backed experience stabilizes." - question: "What is the Cline SDK and why does the extension migration matter?" answer: "The Cline SDK (@cline/sdk) is the TypeScript engine that powers every Cline surface: the CLI, the Kanban parallel-agent task board, the VS Code extension, and the JetBrains plugin. Before 4.0, the VS Code extension ran its own legacy task implementation. 4.0 routes agent turns, tools, Plan/Act coordination, MCP, checkpoints, telemetry, provider changes, compaction, mistake limits, and task history through the shared SDK session layer. The practical effect is that the extension, CLI, and Kanban now behave consistently because they share one engine, and the SDK is also published for developers who want to build their own agents and integrations on top of it." - question: "What is ClinePass?" answer: "ClinePass is the subscription and onboarding flow built into the VS Code extension in 4.0. It handles provider selection, signup and subscription handoff, live model lists, entitlement and organization error states, and out-of-credit prompts, plus clearer auth and error handling. In other words, Cline now ships a managed path to subscribe, pick a model, and run, instead of requiring every user to bring and configure their own API key up front, while still supporting BYO-key providers." - question: "What are Cline Plugins and the Customize marketplace?" answer: "The Customize marketplace is a single interface for discovering and managing Skills, MCP servers, and Plugins, with installed and marketplace tabs, search and filtering, and install, uninstall, enable, and disable controls. Cline Plugins are the new extensibility primitive: they let you extend Cline with custom tools, workflows, skills, and MCP-powered capabilities tailored to a team or project, including plugin-bundled skills. Plugins can be installed mid-session, and the MCP hub refreshes automatically after a marketplace install so a newly installed server is available without a manual restart." - question: "Is Cline 4.0 a breaking change, and what should I watch for when upgrading?" answer: "4.0 reworks several defaults and removes one feature. Command auto-approval is now disabled by default for new and reset configurations, so setups that relied on auto-approving commands will need to re-enable it explicitly. The legacy Explain Changes feature is removed as part of the SDK migration cleanup, and subagents are temporarily disabled in the extension while the SDK-backed experience stabilizes. Provider and model configuration moved to a providers.json file and a shared model catalog, which should preserve settings across provider switches but is worth verifying if you maintain a custom provider setup. Everything else is additive: queued prompts, edit-and-regenerate, plugins, and the marketplace." --- Cline shipped [v4.0.0 on June 26, 2026](https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.0.0), a major version that jumps from v3.89.2 (June 11) and reframes what Cline is. Where the 3.x line was a VS Code extension that grew a CLI alongside it, 4.0 makes the shared [Cline SDK](https://docs.cline.bot/cline-sdk/overview) the engine for everything and ports the VS Code extension onto it. Cline now describes itself as "the open source coding agent in your IDE and terminal," and the README is explicit that the SDK is "the same engine that runs the CLI, Kanban, VS Code extension, and JetBrains plugin." The extension rewrite is the headline; the subscription, marketplace, and plugin layers are what turn the rewrite into a platform bet. ## The SDK migration: one engine across four surfaces The core change in 4.0 is that the VS Code extension no longer runs its own legacy task implementation. Agent turns, tools, Plan/Act mode coordination, MCP, checkpoints, telemetry, provider changes, compaction, mistake limits, and task history now route through the shared SDK session layer. The extension build and package workflow also moves to [Bun](https://bun.sh), which Cline already uses across the rest of the repo. The architecture payoff is consistency. The Cline CLI (now on its own v3.0.x line, at [cli-v3.0.31](https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/cli-v3.0.31) as of June 27), the [Kanban](https://github.com/cline/kanban) parallel-agent task board, the JetBrains plugin, and the VS Code extension all share one runtime, so a behavior fix or a tool change lands in every surface instead of being reimplemented per client. Plan/Act handling is reworked through SDK coordinators with closer CLI parity and automatic continuation when switching from Plan to Act. Terminal execution is simplified through the SDK run-commands path, with safer structured command formatting and clearer non-interactive guidance. The same consolidation logic is what drove OpenAI to build a governable platform around [Codex 0.142](/articles/2026-06-27--openai-codex-0-142-token-budgets-multi-agent-web-search) earlier this week, and the broader pattern of coding agents moving from single-surface tools to SDK-first platforms is now the default shape of the category. ## ClinePass: a managed subscription inside the extension The most user-visible product change is ClinePass. It is a built-in subscription and onboarding flow in the VS Code extension, covering provider selection, signup and subscription handoff, live model lists, entitlement and organization error states, out-of-credit prompts, and clearer ClinePass auth and error handling. Generic SDK provider settings and model-catalog support mean more providers can share the same model picker, reasoning controls, dynamic model IDs, and custom model handling. Read plainly, Cline now ships a managed path: subscribe, pick a model, run. That is a shift for a project that built its audience on "bring your own API key," and it is the same shift the rest of the category has made as coding agents moved from hobbyist tooling to managed products. BYO-key providers are not removed; they sit alongside the managed flow, and the new `providers.json` plus shared model catalog is designed to preserve settings across provider switches. ## Customize marketplace and Cline Plugins The Customize marketplace consolidates Skills, MCP servers, and Plugins into one interface, with installed and marketplace tabs, search and filtering, install and uninstall flows, and enable and disable controls. It also supports plugin-bundled skills and can be reorganized under a Customize entry point. [Cline Plugins](https://github.com/cline/cline/releases/tag/v4.0.0) are the new extensibility primitive. They let you extend Cline with custom tools, workflows, skills, and MCP-powered capabilities tailored to a team or project, and they can be installed mid-session. MCP support now extends to plugins, and the MCP hub refreshes automatically after a marketplace install, so a newly installed server is available without a manual restart. The MCP Marketplace tab can also be disabled remotely while installed MCP servers remain accessible. This is the same extensibility vector that Claude Code, Codex, and the [opencode desktop release](/articles/2026-04-19--opencode-desktop-electron-tauri-typescript) have been converging on: a plugin and MCP layer that turns a coding agent into something teams can customize without forking it. ## Queued prompts, provider rework, and safer defaults A batch of developer-facing improvements rounds out the release. Queued prompts fix a long-standing annoyance: messages submitted while Cline is already working now queue, render while the current turn streams, and can be cancelled before they run, instead of being dropped or racing the active turn. Edit-and-regenerate lets you edit a previous user message and rerun from there, with Escape cancelling the edit locally and clearer Reset Chat and Reset Code labels. Provider and model configuration is reworked around `providers.json`, the model catalog, and SDK session config, and the release wires in a broad set of providers and models: ClinePass models, Fireworks GLM 5.2, Kimi K2.6 Fast, [Kimi K2.7 Code](/articles/2026-06-12--kimi-k2-7-code-mimo-code), Qwen 3.7 Plus, MiniMax M3, SAP AI Core, LiteLLM model fetching, Codex OAuth credentials, and OpenAI-compatible model settings. The shared generic settings components and reasoning selectors replace many provider-specific views. Safety defaults tighten. Command auto-approval is now disabled by default for new and reset configurations, and the auto-approval UI is streamlined. The release also fixes SDK tool-result and provider-message budgeting by truncating large tool outputs by default, capping assistant text, limiting bash, file-read, and search output ingestion, bounding media budgets, and batching outdated-read rewrites to preserve provider prefix caches. Terminal reliability gets a long fix list, including standalone Windows output capture, hardened PowerShell handling, heredoc coalescing, and removal of duplicated command echoes. ## What to watch Two caveats are worth flagging before upgrading. Subagents are temporarily disabled in the VS Code extension while the SDK-backed experience stabilizes, so teams relying on [multi-agent orchestration](/articles/2026-06-22--sakana-fugu-multi-agent-orchestration-frontier) through Cline's subagent feature will need to wait for it to return. The legacy Explain Changes feature is removed as part of the SDK migration cleanup. Everything else is additive. The full changelog between v3.89.2 and v4.0.0 is on the [compare view](https://github.com/cline/cline/compare/v3.89.2...v4.0.0), and the CLI line continues independently on the v3.0.x branch. Cline has roughly 64,000 GitHub stars and sits in a category that is consolidating fast; 4.0 is the version where it stops being an extension and starts being a platform.